[bestjob]

Anyone with a good pattern for knitting socks on 2/4/or5 needles? I am a fairly experienced knitter, but I've never made socks. Regia yarn was on sale last week, though, so I thought I'd give it a whirl! Any and all advice gratefully accepted!

 

[Throkmorton]

I like the pattern from here: http://www.forestelves.com/vknits2.htm
It is knit on 4 needles, and calls for worsted, but would probably be easily knit with sock yarn as well.
Socks are addictive things. I have made 8 pairs this year.

 

[whitecrew4]

I use a sock pattern from Briggs and Little Woolen Mills (in Canada)
It is knit on 4 needles. Very easy step by step directions.
If you need help when you get to the heel I can try and help, let me know.
Nancy

 

[bestjob]

Thanks to you both. I'll keep the forestelves pattern for the future, but for now I'd like to learn on one that has the exact yarn type and tension specified.

whitecrew4, is your pattern #104 from Briggs and Little?

 

[whitecrew4]

Actually the one I've used is 101 for the Heavy Sock Pattern, I want to get the other one and try it. I grew up on a farm so the work sock pattern was the most practical. Now that I live in Mississippi it seems weird to knit such heavy socks and mittens but they make great Christmas gifts

Nancy

 

[faythe]

I like doing them on 5 needles, I get ladders if I do them on 4. Here's on pattern:

http://www.theknitter.com/regiapattern.html

I prefer toe up and used this for my first pair:

http://members.cts.com/crash/j/jgibs...ng/soxform.htm

I love it, socks are addicting!

 

[MamaMonica]

I'm jumping in with some possibly dumb questions. Socks scare me- they look so complicated. I can knit a tube sock on 2 circulars or dps (used size 6)- but the size of the needles 1, 2 or 3 for socks makes it seem like it would take 1000 years to knit- and the directions for the heel sound complicated. How advanced do you need to be to try something like this? And how long does it take?

 

[Throkmorton]

Socks are surprisingly easy. Just take it one step at a time.
The socks I knit are mostly done on #5 needles, so they go a lot faster.
Here are some good starters to practice, from knitty.com
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter02/PATTfuzzyfeet.html
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring03/PATTcrusoe.html

The first one is slippers, but a good way to learn how to do a heel.

 

[bestjob]

Thank you all for the info. I called BandL and bought the pattern #104 and some yarn. Even with shipping, it was cheaper than my local knitting store. They only charge $5.00 for shipping anywhere in Canada, regardless of the size of the order! And I get to look forward to the arrival of the package... some of us never grow up!

 

[whitecrew4]

All the talk about knitting made me want to finish some projects. Yesterday I finished a sock and put thumbs on a pair of mittens

. And it wasn't as hard with 2 little ones as I thought it would.

Nancy

 

[Aurora]

Steph-Thanks for the links! Those Fuzzy Feet look terrific. I am adding them to my ever growing list of projects to do.

 

[MamaMonica]

Steph- thanks for those links. I am going to try the fuzzy feet since they are done on big needles and that might be a good way for me to learn the concept of a heel.

Do you think Lion's brand Fisherman's wool would work for the fuzzy feet? I have a whole skein of this and it should felt. I'm still learning about yarn weights and patterns.

Do you do a guage swatch on double points before you start?

(Thank you for bearing with my beginner questions)

 

[Throkmorton]

I would imagine that fishermen's would work quite well.
As for a gauge swatch, you probably should. It is also a good way to tell how felted they will get in the washer. Just throw your swatch in with a load of laundry. Measure it before and after, so that you can really gauge how much it will shrink down in the wash.

 

[MamaMonica]

Gauge question. I did a swatch on size 7 needles in the fishermans wool and am way off- I knit 18 stitches (vs 12) and 22 rows (vs 18). Would I be better to go buy some bigger needles or get a thicker yarn since I'm hugely off (for the fuzzy feet)?

 

[Throkmorton]

I would get bigger needles, but that's just me.
Otherwise, I would maybe double up the fishermen's so that you are knitting with 2 strands instead of one. Of course, I am also trying to reduce my stash, so I may be biased.

 

[MamaMonica]

Duh! I read 7mm as size 7 needles. I need 10.5 needles- I'm going out to buy the bigger needles now.

Thanks for the insight! I don't want to be overwhelmed iby my stash of yarn, either.

 

[whitecrew4]

Quote:

I read 7mm as size 7 needles. I need 10.5 needles- I'm going out to buy the bigger needles now.

Monica, I've done that before too

but it took me awhile to figure it out.

My stash is mostly packed away since we moved last year. Now I need to find it and figure out if I can use it, if not I need to give some of it away.
Nancy

 

[MamaMonica]

Knitting along on the correct size needles and I ran into a glitch. I've never picked up stitches before so I looked it up in a book and picked up through the wrong threads because I had more than 12- like 16 picked up the first time I did it. I got 12 on the other side as I should have but am not sure EXACTLY how to find the "runnning threads" to pick up and knit after the heel flap.

Any easy tips to getting this right from experienced sock knitters?

 

[Aster]

http://www.royea.net/sockdemo3.html
http://www.socknitters.com/lessons/gusset.html

hi, not an expert, but i'm trying to figure out the same things. links are to a couple of pages i was looking at last nite with pics that show how to do it...hth

 

[MamaMonica]

Thanks Aster. I bookmarked those pages. I think I picked up behind where I should have.